All four quarter-finals of the Danske Bank Corn na nÓg took place yesterday at mid Ulster venues and three went to plan with St Macartan’s upsetting the odds with a late 0-12 to 0-11 win over last year’s beaten Dalton Cup finalists St Patrick’s Cavan.
St Macartan’s started well and were 0-4 to 0-1 ahead at the end of the first quarter, although Cavan pulled them in to trail by just a point 0-6 to 0-5 at the break with Adam Gaynor, Kevin McGovern, Harry Boylan and Cian Keaney excellent.
Although Cavan started the second half well, Sem goalie Conor Meehan made a couple great saves and it was really nip-and-tuck until Cavan took the lead for first time in game through Cian Keaney with six minutes left.
St Macartan’s however equalized a minute later with a free from Tommy Mallon free, and Jamie McKenna grabbed the winner a minute into injury-time.
In next week’s semi-finals they will play Omagh CBS who led by St Michael’s Enniskillen by 1-5 to 0-5 in Trillick after an evenly-contested opening half, a goal from Charlie Donnelly the difference between the teams.
As the weather deteriorated the scoring rate slowed in the second half but Omagh got in for three more goals, a second from Donnelly and one each from Tom Gavin and Charlie McCrory and those were enough to seal a semi-final place despite the best efforts of Oisin Swift, Liam MacEnri and Conor O’Hanlon.
St Patrick’s Armagh were no match for last year’s Dalton Cup winners and competition favourites St Patrick’s Maghera at MUSA. Michael McSorley was their only scorer in a heavy 7-17 to 0-5 score-line.
Maghera were 2-12 to 0-3 ahead at the break and with Tiernan McCormack, Danny McDermott, Fionn McEldowney, Tom Quinn, Fionbarr McShane and Dara McPeake all in great form they coasted the finish line.
They will now face St Colman’s who survived a stiff test from Holy Trinity Cookstown in Armagh. In a game of two penalties, Michael McElhatton slotted home for Cookstown before the break and Aaron Quinn added a goal for HTC to lead 2-4 to 1-5 at the turnover.
Conal McKinley got the Newry goal in the first half, but with Conor Devlin excellent in defence Cookstown stretched their lead to four points midway through the second half just before the second penalty award.
Ethan Sousa tucked the spot-kick away and St Colman’s pushed on with strong performances from Ronan Murphy, James McNeill- Keenan and Charlie Tumilty, while the work-rate of forwards Benny Duffy, Ryan Duffy, Ethan Sousa and Charlie Garvey was impressive.
Meanwhile in the Sciath na nÓg quarter-finals there was a 7-10 to 4-9 shoot-out between St Mary’s Magherafelt and the Academy with St Mary’s now meeting St Joseph’s Donaghmore who beat Abbey CBS.
In the other semi-final St Ronan’s Lurgan (winners over St Eunan’s Letterkenny) await the winners of today’s final quarter-final between Scoileanna Inis Eoghain and Our Lady’s Castleblayney
St Colman’s : Ethan Sousa 1-1, Conall McKinley 1-0, Benny Duffy 0-5, Ryan Duffy 0-2, Carlie Garvey 0-2, Callum Woods 0-1, Danny Cunningham 0-1, James McNeill-Keenan 0-1.
Holy Trinity : Micheal McElhatton 1-1, Aaron Quinn 1-1, Aaron Quinn 0-2, Liam Lawn 0-2, Eoin Canavan 0-1 Cathal Heaney 0-1.
Omagh CBS : Charlie Donnelly 2-1, Tom Gavin 1-1, Charlie McCrory 1-0, Eoin Donaghy 0-5, Callum Daly 0-1
St Michael’s : Liam MacEinrí 0-2, Michael Burns 0-2, Conor O’Hanlon 0-2, Caolan Rooney 0-1, Liam Corry 0-1, Rory Smyth 0-1.
Maghera : Ciaran Chambers 1-7, Conor Downey 1-3, Shea Birt 1-2, Danny McDermott 1-1, Conor Coyle 1-0, Tiernan McCormack 1-0, Julian Moore 1-0, Fionn McEldowney 0-2, Fionbarr McShane 0-1, Antain Donnelly 0-1
Armagh : Michael McSorley 0-5
St Macartan’s : Tommy Mallon 0-4, Jack Lynch 0-2, Sean Callen 0-2, Jamie McKenna 0-2, Sean óg McElwaine 0-1, Adam Monahan 0-1
Cavan: Cian Keaney 0-7, Matthew Costello 0-1, Eanna Ward 0-1, Toby McKiernan 0-1, Senan Shields 0-1.